The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna

When I tell you Stella Fortuna was a special girl, I hope you aren't thinking small-town special. Other people would underestimate Stella Fortuna during her long life, and not one of them didn't end up regretting it. Hundred-year-old Stella Fortuna sits alone in her house in Wethersfield, Connecticut, crocheting blankets and angrily ignoring her sister, Tina, who lives across the street. Born into abject poverty in an Italian village, Stella Fortuna's name might mean Lucky Star, but for the last century, her life has been defined by all the times she might have died. Up until now, Stella's close bond with her sister has been one of the few things to survive her tumultuous life, but something has happened, and nobody can understand what it might be. Does the one life and many (near) deaths of Stella Fortuna have secrets still to be revealed, even to those who believe they are closest to her? By turns a family saga, a ghost story, and a coming-of cranky-old-age tale, Juliet Grames's THE SEVEN OR EIGHT DEATHS OF STELLA FORTUNA lays bare the costs of migration and patriarchal values, but also of the love and devotion that can sustain a family through generations, in a sprawling 20th century saga of a young woman with a fire inside her which cannot be put out.--Provided by publisher.

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Astounding and heartbreaking, Grames has crafted a powerful tale of the 20th Century immigrant experience that sounds like it was told in whispers between sips of grappa after weekend dinners when the tables are cleared, the kids are playing in the backyard, and family secrets start to come out.

Reading this book was, for me, a perfect example of the way you can appreciate an author's skill even if they're not entirely your cup of tea. This spans the life of one woman across much of the 20th century, charting her family's move from a remote Italian village to America, with the conceit of her numerous near-death experiences giving the book its structure. And, look, I think Grames is an author to watch -- this was ambitious in scope and assuredly written, particularly for a debut. But it's dark! Which is kind of the point -- one of the core themes is women trying (and generally failing) to carve out a life of their own beyond societal expectations for them -- but I think it's a kind of bleakess that will totally hook some readers, and turn others off. If this sounds like your kind of thing, though, this is a new author worth discovering.